Jump!

Last week, there was a massive volunteer migration to San Jose for our All Volunteer Conference (AVC). Unlike other trainings that I have thus experienced, this one not only included all volunteers within the country (about 140 of us), but it was also run by and organized by volunteers. To be honest, before it started, I wasn’t really stoked on having to do another training so soon after our last training, but it ended up being a lot of fun and it was a great experience.

During our stay, we were roomed with other volunteers from other groups in order to facilitate getting to know others outside of our little circle of friends. I got pretty lucky with the roommate situation as both girls were super cool. We were also pretty respectful of each other and our shared space. I heard stories of others who had uncomfortable moments with their roommates. Let’s just say that apparently some people are sin vergüenza or shameless. Either way, there was a good amount of inter-group mingling and it was really nice to get to others a little bit better while at the same time catching up a bit with those whom I haven’t seen in a while.

The conference itself was pretty good. Although, I’d have to say that I felt more socialized than trained. Though the few actual training sessions we had were interesting, there were far more social activities. Our days were filled with trivia, talent shows (we do have quite a bit of talent), skits put on by staff, exercise, and lots of time to eat. Everything that would make a huge gathering fun was included. A proud moment for me was during trivia and I was the only one on our team who knew who Rick Asley was and got us that point. It was a bit surprising that nobody knew what being “Rick-rolled” was. Also, it was kind of funny that we got Rick-rolled during trivia.

The last night of our AVC, most of us went out to a bar in the center of San Jose that we had supposedly rented out for at least part of the night. I’m not sure how true that was considering there were a whole lot of Ticos there, even in the beginning of the night. The theme of our AVC was “Legacy,” and so that night we were told to come in costume from a past decade. I did not, however many did. Including Ticos it seems. I’m not sure if it was a costume night for them as well, but the Ticos that were there definitely fit into the whole theme. You could think of it as either really hilarious or incredibly creepy. I mean, there were guys who were rocking the Freddy Mercury look a little too well. It was like, “Whoa, that guy has a really great costume. What? He’s not a volunteer? Oh. That’s…interesting.”

The creepy Ticos did not stop us from having a great night. There were good drinks, good music and good company. I’m not sure when the group karaoke began, but at some point in the night, people got to choose songs to sing up front. I’m generally not the biggest fan of karaoke, but when the entire bar is rocking out to Sublime or Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’,” the amount of fun that can be had is almost kind of magical. Also, it kind of goes to show that all volunteers are cooped up too long in site, and that we are all slightly weird people who are up for a good time. I’m not saying that it wasn’t a drama free night as that would be impossible when that many people gather and alcohol is involved, but it was pretty smooth and everyone kept it together pretty well. Yay, we just might be almost grown up.

A bunch of us ended our conference by deciding to jump off a bridge. Yes, we went bungee jumping. It was long, cold, rainy and one of the most fun days I’ve had in Costa Rica. Because of confusion due to conversion of weight (kilos vs lbs), I ended up being the last person to try jumping, but it ended up being OK because it turns out I am freakishly not afraid of heights. I did not find it stressful to wait the whole day for my turn. I always knew that I was comfortable with heights and felt comfortable on roller coasters and such, but I thought that I would at least start feeling nervous standing on the ledge. At the very least, I figured I would feel a twinge of fear the moment I jumped. Nope and nope. Total calm. Like I said, I’m freakish. Actually, there was a split second moment of nerves halfway down when I thought, “Oh wow you crazy person, you just jumped off a bridge,” but it passed and it was just pure fun. I would totally do it again.